A Whiter Shade of Pale - Single by Procol Harum on Apple Music One of best songs ever ,come on buy it ,classic Biography Formed: 1967 in London, England Genre: Rock Years Active: '60s, '70s, '90s, '00s, '10s Procol Harum is arguably the most successful "accidental" group creation -- that is, a band originally assembled to take advantage of the success of a record created in the studio -- in the history of progressive rock. With "A Whiter Shade of Pale" a monster hit right out of the box, the band evolved from a studio ensemble into a successful live act, their music built around an eclectic mix of blues-based rock riffs and grand classical themes. With singer/pianist Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid... Top Albums and Songs by Procol Harum 1.

Whiter Shade Of Pale is Britian's most-heard record - Telegraph Music Whiter Shade Of Pale is Britain's most-heard record A Whiter Shade Of Pale, the Procul Harum hit that spent six weeks at the top of the charts in 1967, was today disclosed as the most-heard song in public places over the last 75 years. The 1967 record cover for Procul Harum's 'Whiter Shade Of Pale' By Chris Irvine 7:39PM BST 13 Apr 2009 The single beat Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody into second place in a three-hour countdown programme The People's Chart, presented by Gavin and Stacey actor Rob Brydon. Others in the top five of the chart, compiled by music licensing company PPL for its 75th anniversary, included The Everly Brothers' All I Have To Do Is Dream, Wet Wet Wet's Love Is All Around and Bryan Adams' (Everything I Do) I do It For You.

Procul Harum's front man Gary Brooker, who last year won a Court of Appeal battle over royalty rights to the hit last year, said the news was a "great and unsought honour." He said: "It isn't something I could have remotely imagined when I wrote the song and then made that legendary recording with Procol Harum all those years ago. "Every musician and singer hopes to reach out and communicate to the audience, so it means a great deal that the record has such an indefinable popularity and lasting appeal." Related Articles Paling Well: Interview with Henry Scott-Irvine (Procol Harum: The Ghosts of A Whiter Shade of Pale) Interview from Critics at Large • Kevin Courrier, January 2013 15 January 2013: Paling Well: Interview with Henry Scott-Irvine (Procol Harum: The Ghosts of A Whiter Shade of Pale) Most groups would kill for a hit song that would define them and last the ages. But what about the hit songs that end up being the death of you?

Procol Harum's 1967 milestone A Whiter Shade of Pale, as seismic for its time as The Beatles' Sgt Pepper was in that same year, is one such tune. With its elliptical images of "skipping the light fandango" and "vestal virgins," people have kept this song alive for years. It has been the choice to wed couples and it has graced funerals as well as appearing in dozens of movies. But the irony for Procol Harum remains that despite a long career of great, memorable records (Shine on Brightly, A Salty Dog, Grand Hotel), they can't seem to get beyond the pale. For over forty years, Procol Harum possessed a varied history that wedded rock, classical and blues-based arrangements. With that classical baroque sound, their succession of albums were filled with cryptic tales of sea journeys, death knells and conquistadors.

Being one of the few groups that had an in-house lyricist (Keith Reid), who wrote with keyboardist and singer Gary Brooker, Procol Harum shaped their music along the piano/Hammond organ tandem that Bob Dylan introduced into rock with both his Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966) albums. (The Band would also continue that trend beginning with Music From Big Pink in 1968.) But Procol Harum remained more of a cult band throughout the Seventies and early Eighties (including when they reformed in the Nineties).

The group has now become the subject of a fascinating book, Procol Harum: The Ghosts of A Whiter Shade of Pale, written by Henry Scott-Irvine, where he examines the strange, troubled history of a band that began life as a short-lived R&B outfit (The Paramounts) during the British Invasion, and would go on to lose some of their members right after A Whiter Shade of Pale became a massive hit, and eventually would find themselves in 2008 in court in a lengthy law suit launched by the original organist Matthew Fisher who claimed that he should be considered a co-writer of this famous track. Writing in the book's foreword, film director Martin Scorsese (who used A Whiter Shade of Pale and Conquistador in his 1989 short film, Life Lessons, from New York Stories) describes Procol Harum's music as a rich mystery. "The point was not so much what the songs were saying, specifically, as what they were suggesting to each of us, individually, where all those sounds and images would lead us, and leave us," he writes.

"Procol Harum's music drew from so many deep wells – classical music, 19th Century literature, rhythm and blues, seaman's logs, concretist poetry – that each tune became a cross-cultural whirligig, a road trip through the pop subconscious." Henry Scott-Irvine, who has written and produced his own weekly radio show on the 24-hour Music & Arts radio station, Resonance FM 104.4 in London, has been a long-time fan of the group. In his book, he provides a clear definition of that trip Procol Harum took through the pop subconscious. We spoke recently about the fascinating genesis of this veteran ensemble. Kevin Courrier The tale of this band is one of the most unusual in rock history. One song, A Whiter Shade of Pale seems to overshadow - in a variety of ways - a long career filled with a number of great songs. But many people who are not fans think of them as 'one-hit' wonders. Or maybe 'two-hit' wonders due to Conquistador with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in the early Seventies. What was so compelling about the story of Procol Harum that it attracted you to writing a book about them?

Henry Scott-Irvine The parallel with Orson Welles is overwhelming. He spent his whole life making films and starring in great roles across the decades. Yet he was always remembered for his first movie Citizen Kane above all of his many undertakings. In Britain it was always like that with Procol Harum and A Whiter Shade of Pale. This scenario fascinated me. In America, during the 1960s, it was an altogether different story. Procol were seen as British rock heroes and rated as ‘Division 1’ with Pink Floyd and The Who. Yet by the mid 1970s the group were scorned by their former American champions – most notably Rolling Stone who turned on them, deriding nearly all of their later albums after 1971 when their guitarist Robin Trower departed to be replaced by Dave Ball and then Mick Grabham, respectively. When Brit Pop peaked in the mid 1990s I was working on Channel 4 TV’s series The White Room in London. I was fortunate enough to chat to Teenage Fanclub and Kula Shaker and asked them if they admired Procol?

It was a gleeful response, "Without A Doubt." A new open-minded generation had come along with without the prejudices of the previous one. In 1995 Procol were touring England again for the first time since 1977 and received unanimously good press in the British broadsheets. Procol it seemed were ripe for reappraisal. But no book publisher was interested! In 2011 David Barraclough of Omnibus Press approached me with a view to commissioning me to write the biography that we are discussing here now. Progressive rock is fashionable again in 2013. We even have a UK based music magazine called Classic Rock Presents PROG. The landscape of our collective past has been duly reappraised. The strange story of this group though actually begins during the days of the British Invasion when they were known as The Paramounts. What kind of band were they and why didn't they become more successful? The Paramounts were a Beat Group who were a ‘covers band’ from a British seaside resort called Southend in Essex. They were indeed fortunate to come from a coastal location, namely the Thames Estuary.

Merchant seamen were bringing-in rare grooves [then] unavailable in record shops nationally and these were supplied to a club called Shades where The Paramounts had a residency. Much of this American soul-r&b crossover became the band’s exclusive mainstay until 1965. Why were The Paramounts not more successful? This has to be down to bad luck and the world not being very fair. They should have been successful. Championed by The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, whom they supported, they also backed Sandie Shaw. By 1966 the ‘Beat Scene’ became littered with a thousand ‘covers’ bands. But, hey, the guys they were only teenagers back then ... What then distinguished Procol Harum from The Paramounts? Procol Harum came along a year later in 1967. As Gary Brooker said to me, ‘The Paramounts was like being at school. We had done our homework. Recorded covers. And now it was time to do something serious!’ Entirely different to The Paramounts, Procol Harum’s template was that of The Band whom they had seen back Bob Dylan at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall in 1966.

Their early ads in the Melody Maker for ‘musicians wanted’ cited The Young Rascals as an influence. The dual keyboards sound of a Hammond organ and a piano with a fully-integrated blues guitar and soulful rhythm section, saw Procol including classical references and shades of Bob Dylan. This unique recipe set them apart from the rest. By April 1967 Procol Harum were quite simply ahead of the pack! When singer/pianist Gary Brooker met up with lyricist Keith Reid to compose A Whiter Shade of Pale you would think that would destine the group to a long successful career, but some of the band members left shortly after the song became huge in 1967 - How did they recover and carry on? Procol’s follow-up single Homburg was a UK million seller and a UK ‘Top Ten’ hit, which charted across Europe in the autumn of 1967. This set Procol in good spirits prior to their American debut in November 1967 where they shared billing with Pink Floyd and The Doors. When America beckoned Procol never looked back.

On their first few albums, it was pretty clear that they had done a marvellous job of fusing a classical concept with a blues core in the person of guitarist Robin Trower – How deliberate was that choice, and how did it set their particular sound in place? Trower maintains that he had insisted on retaining his blues influences, having spent six months in 1966 in a power trio called The Jam who covered BB King and Buddy Guy. Is this where Paul Weller got the name for his band in 1976? Homage, theft, or symbiosis? Trower’s solos were concise and very deliberate. In his review for Television’s Marquee Moon in NME in 1977 Nick Kent likened Torn Curtain to "Trower and Procol in excelsis." This was the very point of Trower’s role. Listen to Repent Walpurgis [1967] Shine on Brightly’s Grand Finale [1968] or Home’s Whaling Stories [1970] and you have the quintessential Harum in their full magnificent flight. Nothing in rock had sounded like this before!

In the foreword to your book, Martin Scorsese talks about the enigmatic quality of their songs, especially on their third album, A Salty Dog, what do you think made Procol Harum so distinct from other late Sixties groups? The fusion of highly cinematic and often surreal lyrics provided powerfully melodic and evocative soundscapes which, if ‘the Pop Promo era’ had been around to capitalise on Procol back then, as opposed its heyday in the mid 1980s, then maybe we could have seen Procol as a vastly successful and hugely financial rock outfit during the late 1960s. I think Procol’s particular marriage of lyrics and music also made them quite unique. Asides that? Their musical variance! This is always overlooked by the press! Right after their third album, there was more turmoil when organist Matthew Fisher leaves the band and then Robin Trower follows him after their fifth, Broken Barricades. Since Procol Harum was a solid musical outfit why was there such discord in the ranks? Fisher hated touring and had the bug to produce after taking the helm on Procol’s third album A Salty Dog in 1969.

He went on to produce albums for Trower. Trower got to the point that he had to reach out and do his own thing. Having seen what Jimi Hendrix did with ‘The Power Trio’ he knew he could follow suit. And with three Billboard ‘Top Ten’ albums in the mid 1970s he certainly proved that point! It seems inevitable they would eventually work with a symphony orchestra, but the album with the Edmonton Symphony brought them back into the mainstream audience thanks to Conquistador. Why do you think that song and that album had the impact that it did? The song was finely scored by Gary Brooker. It seemed to echo the spirit of Ennio Morricone’s soundtracks to spaghetti westerns. A Fistful Of Dynamite would have been a contemporary of this recording – albeit totally different. Having already departed from Procol Harum, Matthew Fisher called this album, "Classical pop music for Sunday supplement readers." It is certainly epic. Chris Thomas’s production was ahead of the rest back then and the marriage of orchestra and band better than any on record. It was a US Billboard at #5 in 1972. You said a moment ago that the press overlooked Procol Harum.

But they also weren't very kind to them in the years to follow despite some fine records. How would you account for this? After the aforementioned Edmonton Symphony album, Procol tended to concentrate more on Europe once again to the detriment of American promotion. This despite the might of Chrysalis Records’ heavy plugging of their great and solidly reliable UK act on profile US network TV and radio, across shows such as Midnight Special, The King Biscuit Hour and In Concert, as well as noteworthy American tours with support from the likes of The Eagles! But in spite of this, as Brooker said to me, “Procol suddenly became unfashionable ...” The band would eventually break up after their late Seventies' album, Something Magic, and then return in the Nineties with The Prodigal Stranger (which brought back Matthew Fisher and Robin Trower) and later in the 2000s with The Well's on Fire. But the story that brought the band back into the public eye was the legal storm over the authorship of A Whiter Shade of Pale. Fisher claimed he was one of the uncredited writers who contributed to the sound of that hit. How would you characterize his case?

I reported the whole matter as it was quoted in the UK national press. The irony is of course that it seemed to be like a bookend to Procol’s career in 2004–2009. There were double page spreads in every UK national paper. Procol were front-page news during the High Court case, The Appeal and the House of Lords resolution. This really was 'The Ghosts Of A Whiter Shade Of Pale' coming back to haunt all parties. I reported it all in the biography in the third person in an endeavour not to take sides. This was also an Omnibus Press ‘house style’ prerequisite, I might add. What is my personal take on all this? Well that is for the birds with a handful of grain. Fair enough. But wouldn't you say it's quite ironic that a song that people get married to and have such lasting fond memories of would be the cornerstone of such discord among the band members who recorded it? Yes! This was just like divorce. Some fans have taken Fisher’s stance, whilst many share Brooker’s. The rest of the band will almost certainly never speak to Fisher again. And Fisher says he would happily return to play in Procol once more. How ironic!

Over their long career, what do you think was Procol Harum's largest contribution to popular music? Without Procol, progressive rock would have been entirely different. The Who’s Pete Townshend cited Shine on Brightly as an influence on Tommy and Brian May cited Grand Hotel as an influence on Queen. Procol certainly paved the way for the excesses of Keith Emerson in The Nice and ELP as well as Rick Wakeman’s epic undertakings after departing from Yes. Yet Procol were like none of those bands really. And most Procol fans loathe those prog acts. What a dilemma ... Procol’s largest contribution to music has to be the songs and the strength of those songs. Procol’s timeless numbers are definitely due for a second or a third airing. And ‘Quite Rightly So’...

Meanwhile, Procol’s current line-up, which has been consistent for seven years, is due to tour Denmark in March with The National Danish Orchestra & Choir, concluding in Wuppertal, Germany on April 5 and 6 where the show will include a ballet, possibly recalling Jethro Tull’s A Passion Play (?!) Reproduced here by kind permission of the author, Kevin Courrier, a writer/broadcaster, film critic, teacher and author (Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa). His forthcoming book is Reflections in the Hall of Mirrors: American Movies and the Politics of Idealism. Courrier is currently conducting a five-part lecture series called Woody Allen: Past and Present (with film clips) at the JCC Miles Nadal Centre in Toronto each Monday until February 11 from 7–9pm. Thanks, Kevin LIME STREET BLUES (1967) by Procul Harum - 'B' side to Whiter Shade of Pale single - YouTube LIME STREET BLUES (1967) by Procul Harum - 'B' side to Whiter Shade of Pale single Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist.

Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Sep 4, 2010 Lime Street Blues was the 'b' side to the single of 'Whiter Shade of Pale' by Procul Harum. It was one of the first singles or records I ever bought. Even though the 'a' side was the big hit, I liked the flip side which was completely different, being more uptemp and rhythm and blues. It was also the first and only time I had heard the lyric 'running around in my underpants'! I have put together a slideshow for this tune. I have used mainly images of the early incarnation of the band, although only a few of the members played on that first single. Category A Whiter Shade of Pale - Single by Procol Harum on Apple Music If I die now, play this for me by 99% of Chart Music is awful Simply one of the greatest singles ever released.

I was hesitant when I saw it had been remastered (I love crackling on the vinyl you get for this song) but it doesn't detract from one of the most melancholy, beautiful and simply awesome pieces of music ever composed. It almost makes me wish I grew up in the 1960s, almost Wonderful stuff by robertclassicalmusicfan Unlike the last reviewer I'm glad I grew up in the 60's, I've had 20(?) more years of listening to this wonderful music! It's great. Listen again and again, you'll enjoy. Biography Formed: 1967 in London, England Genre: Rock Years Active: '60s, '70s, '90s, '00s, '10s Procol Harum is arguably the most successful "accidental" group creation -- that is, a band originally assembled to take advantage of the success of a record created in the studio -- in the history of progressive rock.

With "A Whiter Shade of Pale" a monster hit right out of the box, the band evolved from a studio ensemble into a successful live act, their music built around an eclectic mix of blues-based rock riffs and grand classical themes. With singer/pianist Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid... Top Albums and Songs by Procol Harum 1. A Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum | TrackID™ A Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum | TrackID™ Open in TrackID™ A Whiter Shade Of Pale Procol Harum Procol Harum Biography Procol Harum is arguably the most successful "accidental" group creation -- that is, a band originally assembled to take advantage of the success of a record created in the studio -- in the history of progressive rock. With "A Whiter Shade of Pale" a monster hit right out of the box, the band evolved from a studio ensemble into a successful live act, their music built around an eclectic mix of blues-based rock riffs and grand classical themes.

With singer/pianist Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid providing the band's entire repertory, their music evolved in decidedly linear fashion, the only major surprises coming from the periodic lineup changes that added a new instrumental voice to the proceedings. At their most accessible, as on "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and "Conquistador," they were one of the most popular of progressive rock bands, their singles outselling all rivals, and their most ambitious album tracks still have a strong following. Procol Harum's roots and origins are as convoluted as its success -- especially between 1967 and 1973 -- was pronounced. Pianist Gary Brooker (b. May 29, 1945, Southend, Essex, England) had formed a group at school called the Paramounts at age 14, with guitarist Robin Trower (b. Mar. 9, 1945, Southend, Essex) and bassist Chris Copping (b. Aug. 29, 1945 Southend, Essex), with singer Bob Scott and drummer Mick Brownlee.

After achieving a certain degree of success at local youth clubs and dances, covering established rock & roll hits, Brooker took over the vocalist spot from the departed Scott, and the group continued working after its members graduated -- by 1962, they were doing formidable (by British standards) covers of American R&B, and got a residency at the Shades Club in Southend. Brownlee exited the band in early 1963 and was replaced by Barry J. (B.J.) Wilson (b. Mar. 18, 1947, Southend, Essex), who auditioned after answering an ad in Melody Maker. Nine months later, in September of 1963, bassist Chris Copping opted out of the professional musicians' corps to attend Leicester University, and he was replaced by Diz Derrick. The following month, the Paramounts demo record, consisting of covers of the Coasters' "Poison Ivy" and Bobby Bland's "Farther on up the Road," got them an audition at EMI. This resulted in their being signed to the Parlophone label, with their producer, Ron Richards, the recording manager best-known for his many years of work with the Hollies.

The Paramounts' first single, "Poison Ivy," released in January of 1964, reached number 35 on the British charts. The group also got an important endorsement from the Rolling Stones, with whom they'd worked on the television show Thank Your Lucky Stars, who called the Paramounts their favorite British R&B band. Unfortunately, none of the group's subsequent Parlophone singles over the next 18 months found any chart success, and by mid-'66, the Paramounts had been reduced to serving as a backing band for popsters Sandy Shaw and Chris Andrews. In September of 1966, the Paramounts went their separate ways; Derrick out of the business, Trower and Wilson to gigs with other bands, and, most fortuitously, Gary Brooker decided to develop his career as a songwriter. This led Brooker into a partnership with lyricist Keith Reid (b. Oct. 19, 1945), whom he met through a mutual acquaintance, R&B impresario Guy Stevens. By the spring of 1967, they had a considerable body of songs prepared and began looking for a band to play them.

An advertisement in Melody Maker led to the formation of a band initially called the Pinewoods, with Brooker as pianist/singer, Matthew Fisher (b. Mar. 7, 1946, Croydon, Surrey) on organ, Ray Royer (b. Oct. 8, 1945) on guitar, Dave Knights (b. June 28, 1945, London) on bass, and Bobby Harrison (b. June 28, 1943, London) on drums. Their first recording, produced by Denny Cordell, was of a piece of surreal Reid poetry called "A Whiter Shade Of Pale," which Brooker set to music loosely derived from Johann Sebastian Bach's Air on a G String from the Suite No. 3 in D Major. By the time this recording was ready for release, the Pinewoods had been rechristened Procol Harum, a name derived, as alternate stories tell it, either from Stevens' cat's birth certificate, Procol Harun, or the Latin "procul" for "far from these things" (hey, it was the mid-'60s, and either is possible).

In early May of 1967, the group performed "A Whiter Shade of Pale" at the Speakeasy Club in London, while Cordell arranged for a release of the single on English Decca (London Records in America), on the companies' Deram label. Ironically, Cordell's one-time clients the Moody Blues were about to break out of a long commercial tail-spin on the very same label with a similar, classically-tinged pair of recordings, "Nights in White Satin" and "Days of Future Passed," and between the two groups and their breakthrough hits, Deram Records would be permanently characterized as a progressive rock imprint. Cordell had also sent a copy of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" to Radio London, one of England's legendary off-shore pirate radio stations (they competed with the staid BBC, which had the official broadcast monopoly, and were infinitely more beloved by the teenagers and most bands), which played the record. Not only was Radio London deluged with listener requests for more plays, but Deram suddenly found itself with orders for a record not scheduled for release for another month -- before May was half over, it was pushed up on the schedule and rushed into shops.

Meanwhile, the prototypal Procol Harum made its concert debut in London opening for Jimi Hendrix at the Saville Theater on June 4, 1967. Four days later, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" reached the top of the British charts for the first of a six-week run in the top spot, making Procol Harum only the sixth recording act in the history of British popular music to reach the number one spot on its first release (not even the Beatles did that). The following month, the record reached number five on the American charts, with sales in the United States rising to over a million copies (and six million copies worldwide). All of this seemed to bode well for the band, except for the fact that it had only a single song in its repertory and no real stage act -- literal one-hit wonders. The same month that the record peaked in the United States, Royer and Harrison were sacked and replaced by Brooker's former Paramounts bandmates Robin Trower and B.J. Wilson on guitar and drums, respectively. The "real" Procol Harum band was now in place and a second single, "Homburg," was duly recorded.

Reminiscent of "Whiter Shade of Pale" in its tone of dark grandeur, this single, released in October of 1967 on EMI's Regal Zonophone label, got to number six on the British charts. The group's debut album, entitled Procol Harum, managed to reach number 47 in America during October of 1967, based on "A Whiter Shade of Pale" being among its tracks (which included the first version of "Conquistador") -- but a British version of the LP, issued over there without the hit, failed to attract any significant sales. The single "Homburg," however, got no higher than number 34 in America a month later. On March 26, 1968, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" won the International Song of the Year award at the 13th Annual Ivor Novello Awards (sort of the British equivalent of the Grammys). The group's newest single, "Quite Rightly So," however, only reached the number 50 spot in England in April of that year.

A new contract for the group was secured with A&M Records in America (they remained on Regal Zonophone in England), and by November, a second album, Shine on Brightly, highlighted by an 18-minute epic entitled "In Held 'Twas I," was finished and in the stores, and rose to number 24 in America but failed to chart in England. The next month, they were playing the Miami Pop Festival in front of 100,000 people, on a bill that included Chuck Berry, Canned Heat, the blues version of Fleetwood Mac, and the Turtles, among others. In March of 1969, David Knights and Matthew Fisher exited the lineup shortly after finishing work on the group's new album, A Salty Dog, preferring management and production to the performing side of the music business. Knights' departure opened the way for bassist Chris Copping to join Procol Harum (thus re-creating the lineup of the Paramounts), playing bass and organ. Another American tour followed the next month, and in June of 1969 A Salty Dog was issued.

This record, considered by many to be the original group's best work, combined high-energy blues and classical influences on a grand scale, and returned the band to the U.S. charts at number 32, while the title song ascended the British charts to number 44. The album subsequently reached number 27 in England, the group's first long-player to chart in their own country. Despite the group's moderate sales in England and America, they remained among the more popular progressive rock bands, capable of reaching more middle-brow listeners who didn't have the patience for Emerson, Lake & Palmer or King Crimson. Robin Trower's flashy guitar quickly made him the star of the group, as much as singer/pianist Brooker, and he was considered in the same league with Alvin Lee and any number of late-'60s/early-'70s British blues axemen. Matthew Fisher's stately, cathedral-like organ had been a seminal part of the band's sound, juxtaposed with Trower's blues-based riffing and Reid's unusual, darkly witty lyrics as voiced by Brooker.

Following Fisher's departure, the group took on a more straightforward rock sound, but Trower's playing remained a major attraction to the majority of fans. "Whaling Stories" was an example of quintessential Procol Harum, a mix of 19th century oratorio that sounds like it came out of a Victorian-era cathedral, with fiery blues riffs blazing at its center. And being soaked in Reid's dark, eerie, regret-filled lyrics didn't stop "A Salty Dog" from becoming one of the group's most popular songs. It was a year before their next album, Home, was released, in June of 1970, ascending to the American number 34 and the British 49 spot. This marked the end of the group's contract with Regal Zonophone/EMI, and on the release of their next LP in July of 1971, they were now on Chrysalis in England. Broken Barricades reached number 32 in America and 41 in England, but it also marked the departure of Robin Trower.

The founding guitarist left that month and subsequently organized his own group, with a sound modeled along lines similar to Jimi Hendrix, which had great success in America throughout the 1970s. Trower's replacement, Dave Ball (b. Mar. 30, 1950), joined the same month, and the lineup expanded by one with the addition of Alan Cartwright on bass, which freed Chris Copping to concentrate full-time on the organ. The group returned to something of the sound it had before Fisher's departure, although Trower was a tough act to follow. It was this version of the band that performed on August 6, 1971 in a concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the DaCamera Singers in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada -- the concert was a bold and expansive, richly orchestrated re-consideration of earlier material (though not "A Whiter Shade of Pale") from the group's repertory, and, released as an official live album in 1972, proved to be the group's most successful LP release, peaking at number five and drawing in thousands of new fans.

In England, Procol Harum Live: In Concert With the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra only rose to number 48 in May of 1972, but it was competing with a reissue of the group's debut album (retitled A Whiter Shade of Pale, with the single added) paired with A Salty Dog, which outperformed it considerably, reaching number 26. A single lifted from the live record, "Conquistador," redone in a rich and dramatic version, shot to number 16 in America and 22 in England that summer. Soon after, the U.S. distributor of the debut album, London Records, got further play from that record by re-releasing it with a sticker announcing the presence of "the original version of "Conquistador." Amid all of this success, the group's lineup again was thrown into turmoil in September when Dave Ball left Procol Harum to join Long John Baldry's band. He was replaced by Mick Grabham, formerly of the bands Plastic Penny and Cochise.

The band's next album, Grand Hotel, was a delightfully melodic and decadent collection (anticipating Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music in some respects) that featured guest backing vocals by Christianne Legrand of the a cappella singing group the Swingle Singers. That record, their first released on Chrysalis in America as well as England, peaked at number 21. Six months later, A&M released the first compilation of the band's material, Best of Procol Harum, which only made it to number 131 on the charts. The group's next two albums, Exotic Birds and Fruit (May 1974) and Procol's Ninth (September 1975), the latter produced by rock & roll songsmiths Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, performed moderately well, and "Pandora's Box" from Procol's Ninth became one of their bigger hits in England, rising to number 16. July of 1976 saw a departure and a lateral shift in the group's lineup, as Alan Cartwright left the band and Chris Copping took over on bass, while Pete Solley joined as keyboard player.

By this time, the band's string had run out, as everyone seemed to know. A new album, Something Magic, barely scraped the U.S. charts in April of 1977, and the band split up following a final tour and a farewell concert at New York's Academy of Music on May 15, 1977. Only five months later, the band was back together for a one-off performance of "A Whiter Shade of Pale," which had taken on a life of its own separate from the group -- the song was named joint winner (along with "Bohemian Rhapsody") of the Best British Pop Single 1952-1977, at the Britannia Awards to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, and the band performed it live at the awards ceremony. Apart from Trower, Gary Brooker was the most successful and visible of all ex-Procol Harum members, releasing three solo albums between 1979 and 1985.

Fear of Flying (1979) on Chrysalis, produced by George Martin, attracted the most attention, but Lead Me to the Water (1982) on Mercury had some notable guest artists, including Eric Clapton and Phil Collins, while Echoes in the Night (1985) was co-produced by Brooker's former bandmate Matthew Fisher. During the late '80s, however, Brooker had turned to writing orchestral music, principally ballet material, but this didn't stop him from turning up as a guest at one of the annual Fairport Convention reunions (Procol Harum and Fairport had played some important early gigs together) at Cropredy, Oxfordshire, in August of 1990 to sing "A Whiter Shade of Pale." Still, Procol Harum had faded from the consciousness of the music world by the end of the 1980s. The death of B.J. Wilson in 1990 went largely unreported, to the chagrin of many fans, and it seemed as though the group was a closed book.

Then, in August of 1991, Brooker re-formed Procol Harum with Trower, Fisher, Reid, and drummer Mark Brzezicki. An album, Prodigal Stranger, was recorded and released, and an 11-city tour of North America took place in September of 1991. Although this lineup didn't last -- Trower and company, after all, were pushing 50 at the time -- Brooker has kept a new version of Procol Harum together, in the guise of himself, guitarist Geoffrey Whitehorn, keyboardman Don Snow, and Brzezicki on drums, which toured the United States in 1992. ~ Bruce Eder Procol Harum cover - A Whiter Shade of Pale - YouTube Procol Harum cover - A Whiter Shade of Pale Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Uploaded on Dec 6, 2009 Procol Harum cover - A Whiter Shade of Pale I like the classical tone of this song, which became very popular before I was born. This is quite an oldie but has a distinctive melodic line attracting listeners' attention due to the seemingly familiar tune. Procol Harum cover - A Whiter Shade of Pale With its haunting tone and Johann Sebastian Bach flavouring (both provided by Hammond organist Matthew Fisher), vocals by Gary Brooker, and unusual lyrics by Keith Reid, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" reached #1 in several countries when released in 1967. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut song by the British band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. In the years since, it has become an enduring classic. Even in 2009, it was the most played song in public places in the UK.

In fact, the United Kingdom performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognized it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years. The single was released on 12 May 1967 (UK, Deram Records). It entered the UK charts on 25 May 1967. In two weeks, it had reached number one, where it stayed for six weeks. All in all, it stayed 15 weeks on the UK chart. A May 1972 re-release on Fly Records stayed in the UK charts for a total of 12 weeks, and reached number 13 as highest. In the US, it reached #5 and sold over one million copies. Chart positions: # 1 (UK), # 1 (Germany) , # 1 (Ireland), # 1 (Australia), # 1 (World), # 3 (Norway VG-lista), # 5 (USA Hot 100) Over time, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" has earned extensive critical acclaim.

It was named joint winner (along with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody") of the Best British Pop Single 1952-1977 at the BRIT Awards, part of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. Rolling Stone magazine placed "A Whiter Shade of Pale" as #57 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in 2004. British TV station Channel 4 placed the song at #19 in its chart of the 100 greatest number one singles. (Wikipedia) A Whiter Shade Of Pale – Procol Harum | MusikBloggNo A Whiter Shade Of Pale – Procol Harum av Olav Nilsen , som har skrevet 106 innlegg på MusikBloggNo .

‘We skipped a light fandango…’ A Whiter Shade Of Pale – Procol Harum Deram DM 126 (UK) / Deram 7507 (USA) Recorded at Olympic Studios, London, 29th March 1967 Released 12th May 1967 Writers Keith Reid & Gary Brooker (and as of 2009 Matthew Fisher) Producer Denny Cordell UK #1 12/6/67 6 weeks USA #5 7/67 UK #13 5/72 Though the significance of this record has no doubt been dulled by a million hearings over the years, it’s important to note that when it first appeared, ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ was a truly outstanding and unique recording, unlike anything heard before in popular music. Classical melodies have often been adapted, or simply stolen, in the creation of popular songs, but seldom as successfully as in the case of ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’, Procol Harum’s international hit from 1967.

The fact is that most classical music is long out of copyright and can be freely used without the necessity of expensive royalty payments to the long dead composer. Thus Beethoven, Bach, Dvorak, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Rimsky-Korsakov, among others, will have had cause to turn in their graves over adaptations by Eric Carmen/Celine Dion (‘All By Myself’), the Move (‘Night Of Fear’), the Beach Boys (‘Lady Lynda’) and B Bumble and the Stingers (‘Nut Rocker’) to name but a few. The BBC in particular took a pretty dim view of pop groups meddling with the classics and banned Bristol group the Cougars’ 1963 reworking of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, ‘Saturday Nite At The Duck Pond’, claiming it, “Defaced a classical melody.” However, a few short years later they were happy to air Love Sculpture’s frantic power-guitar version of Khachaturian’s ‘Sabre Dance’.(An earlier version of ‘Sabre Dance’ by Woody Herman in 1947, had been banned – probably because the composer was still alive at the time.

The piece by the way was composed in 1942) The music to ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ was an adaptation of Bach’s Air on the G string (apparently the work of organist Matthew Fisher as we shall see later) – the lyrics were something else entirely! Procol Harum as a group didn’t actually exist at all when the recording was made, being more a studio session unit brought together via an advertisement in British music weekly Melody Maker to record the songs that vocalist Gary Brooker had written with lyricist Keith Reid. Guy Stevens, a music business friend of Brooker’s, arranged to record some of their songs, and on the strength of the demos (recorded at Marquee Studios and including ‘A Whiter Shade’ first turned down by Chris Blackwell at Island Records) obtained a record contract with producer Denny Cordell who licensed ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ to Deram, a subsidiary of Decca Records in London.

Cordell, who went on to produce a series of late 1960s hits for the Move and Joe Cocker, later switched distribution to EMI’s revitalised Regal Zonophone label and consequently Decca only got the one Procol Harum single. The group name Procol Harum, by the way, was the miss-spelt Latin name of a friend’s pedigree cat. To say that Keith Reid’s lyrics were surreal would be something of an understatement, since particularly in the case of ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ with its vestal virgins, light fandangos and millers telling tales, they remain incomprehensible. This anomaly is explained by Reid who later revealed that the song was originally twice as long with 4 verses – the fourth verse was apparently surplus to requirements, but verse three explained it all! At the time, the lyrics were described as ‘psychedelic’, a term generally associated with the flower-power era, and culminating in John Lennon’s Alice In Wonderland inspired lyric, ‘I Am The Walrus’. The title of the song was actually a phrase that Keith Reid overheard at a late night party.

Guy Stevens had spotted his wife, looking somewhat the worse for wear, and commented, “My God, you’ve just turned a whiter shade of pale!” and a classic song was born. Lyricist Keith Reid says the track was recorded ‘live’ in the studio, and as far as he recalls was completed in three takes. There was no doubt that the recording, with its haunting organ, strange lyric and a drum arrangement ‘borrowed’ from Percy Sledge’s 1966 hit ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’ was very different from anything else on the market. So different in fact that the powers that were at Decca Records, a conservative label at the best of times, and despite previous hits supplied to them by Denny Cordell, had no idea what to do with it, and were extremely unsure if it had any hit potential at all. Fortunately, Decca promotion chief Tony Hall, who knew a smash hit when he heard one, had a few promotional ideas of his own. He sent a test pressing of the record to pirate radio station Radio London, situated three miles off Britain’s east coast.

Radio London was, at the time, Britain’s most popular pop music station (the government sponsored BBC limiting its’ pop coverage to a couple of hours at the weekend), and as this author can testify, Radio London test-marketed the record (on the afternoon of April 17th), asking for listener response, which was enormous. Decca, who had planned to issue the record a couple of months later, were forced to rush-release it due to public demand, and in just three weeks it reached Number 1 on the British charts and remains one of the most memorable hits of that so-called ‘summer of love’. ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ sold 6 million copies around the world during 1967 – 1 million in America alone – was Number 1 in France for 11 weeks, and has since appeared on countless compilation albums. Over the years, Gary Brooker has remained the key figure in a constantly changing Procol Harum line-up.

The group followed ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ with the similar ‘Homburg’, a Top 10 UK hit later the same year, before delivering what is undoubtedly their finest piece, ‘A Salty Dog’ in 1969, though that song only scraped in at #44 on the British charts. Virtually dismissed in their home country as a one-hit-wonder outfit, the group were actually more successful in America where a live album recorded with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 1972 reached #5, and ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ returned to the UK Top 20 at the same time. Since then the group has split and reformed on a number of occasions – Mr Brooker has made a number of solo albums and toured with Eric Clapton, and more recently as a member of Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings. The latest Procol Harum album was released in 2003 and the group continue to tour on a regular basis, mostly in continental Europe.

In a stunning update, in 2005 original Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher sued Gary Brooker and his publishers, claiming that he had contributed to the music of ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’, (what about Herr Bach then?) and claiming royalties backdated to 1967. Amazingly, in December 2006, the judgement went in his favour, Judge William Blackburne of the High Court declaring: “I have come to the view that Mr Fisher’s interest in the work should be reflected by according him a 40 per cent share of the musical copyright.” He also ordered the defendants to pay 90% of Fisher’s legal costs, estimated at £800,000, though only gave Fisher the rights to royalties from 2005 onwards. Why he had waited 38 years to launch his claim is unknown.

Perhaps he just needed the money, though Fisher told the press he was only seeking recognition for his work adding, “I think I can assume that from now on I’m not going to be on Gary and Keith’s Christmas card lists, but I think that’s a small price to pay for finally securing my rightful place in rock and roll history.” Brooker was stunned and issued a statement on the band’s website: “Today may prove to be ‘A Darker Shade Of Black’ for creativity in the music industry. No longer will songwriters, bands and musicians be able to go into a studio to give of their best in a recording without the spectre of one of them, at any future point, claiming a share of the publishing copyright.” Brooker also pointed out that if anyone else deserved a credit on the recording it should have been Johann Sebastian Bach rather than Fisher, adding that he and Keith Reid had written the song before Fisher became a member of the band. However, it has been noted that Fisher had been playing around with his thematic Bach variation a year before ‘Pale’ was recorded, while working in former Manfred Mann vocalist Paul Jones’ backing band. Not surprisingly, Brooker launched an appeal in October 2007.

Brooker won the appeal, but Matthew Fisher ultimately won his case when The House Of Lords overturned the appeal court decision in July 2009. Baroness Hale, one of the five judges who heard the case said: “As one of those people who do remember the sixties, I am glad that the author of that memorable organ part has at last achieved the recognition he deserves”. Link to original 1967 clip: Last time I checked this youtube clip had been seen 37 million times!! Copyright © 2016 SongStories/Tony Burton 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' : AWSuit in 'The Times' Whiter Shade of Pale to get another hearing - in the High Court Adam Sherwin in The Times, 10 November 2006 Its haunting organ fused Bach with pop to create one of the most enduring hits of the flower-power era ï¿½ and next week A Whiter Shade Of Pale returns to centre stage. The Procol Harum song is at the centre of a million-pound royalties dispute to be heard at the High Court in London on Monday. Released in 1967, it became a global smash, selling 10 million copies.

It is still used in advertisements and regularly features in ï¿½greatest song of all timeï¿½ polls. The song has always been credited to Gary Brooker, Procol Harumï¿½s frontman, and lyricist Keith Reid. Now almost 40 years on, Matthew Fisher, the bandï¿½s classically trained organist, claims that the songï¿½s signature winding melody line was his work. Fisher, 60, now a computer programmer in Croydon, South London, is claiming a share of the songï¿½s copyright and past sales, which could earn him up to ï¿½1 million. The dispute is complicated because all sides agree that Johann Sebastian Bach originally inspired the songï¿½s mournful melody. Brooker first wrote the song as a straight R&B tune, based on Bachï¿½s Air from the Orchestral Suite No 3 in D (or Air on a G String), which he had heard on a ï¿½Hamletï¿½ cigar advertisement, and the composerï¿½s Cantata No 140, known as Sleepers Awake.

With Bob Dylanï¿½s records then popularising the Hammond organ sound, the band called on Fisher to embellish the track, but the organist argues that his contribution was far greater. Musicologists will tell the court that he transformed the organ melody into something far superior to the chord structure that Brooker borrowed from Bach. His organ melody includes lines running in counterpoint to the vocal melody and also the memorable eight-bar solo that appears between verses. He transformed the tempo and rhythm of the cantata ï¿½liftï¿½, cleverly disguising its classical source. Brooker, who strongly contests the claim, concedes that Fisher, who left the band in 1969, ï¿½refinedï¿½ the songï¿½s use of Bach. But the organist believes he created an original melody. Fisher has hired Jens Hill & Co, the company that represented Pete Best when the axed Beatles drummer successfully sued his former bandmates for royalties. Brooker, 61, has engaged Harbottle & Lewis, which acted for Simon Fuller, the Pop Idol mogul, in a recent dispute with Simon Cowell.

Brooker said: ï¿½A Whiter Shade of Pale was written by Keith and myself before Matthew even joined the band.ï¿½ He added: ï¿½I am shocked and dismayed that after Matthew had worked with us quite happily over the course of nearly 40 years without him once alleging that his role on Whiter Shade was anything other than as a musician, it is only now that he claims to recall ï¿½composingï¿½ part of the song. I think people can draw their own conclusions from this.ï¿½ A keyboard will be installed in the High Court for Fisher to demonstrate his contribution, his solicitors said. Fisher has rejoined Procol Harum on two occasions, finally parting company with the group in 2004. He issued a statement on his website rejecting allegations that his wife, Carol Bellantoni, an American artist, had in any way instigated the legal action and his departure from the band. Procol Harum toured with Jimi Hendrix after the success of Whiter Shade. Their symphonic rock remained popular but the 1967 single proved to be their commercial peak.

It was named joint Best British Pop Single released between 1952-1977 (with Queenï¿½s Bohemian Rhapsody) at the silver jubilee British Rock and Pop Awards. Money Spinner

Question: Which group had a hit record in 1967 with the tune, "A Whiter Shade of Pale"?
Answer: PROCOL HARUM